Destiny 2 Is Already Pissing Off Players With New Armor Shader System

Destiny 2 was released on consoles yesterday and early buzz for the game seems to be mostly positive. I’m about five or six hours in so far and am enjoying it quite a bit so far (look for my review later next week) but there are definitely problems. One such issue that is causing an uproar in the fan community is the way armor shaders work, as the once permanent-unlocks are now single use consumables. But that’s just one part of the problem.

See, in the first Destiny, shaders allowed you to color your entire outfit all at once, and could be freely swapped in and out with other shaders at any time. In Destiny 2, shaders can also only be used on piece of armor at a time, which means that you’re more likely to hoard shaders than actually use them, given how often you change armor in this game. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if shaders were more plentiful, but the big problem that is causing such a stir is that Bungie is now selling shaders as in-game microtransactions.

Microtransactions have been a contentious issue among Destiny players from the beginning, so it’s hardly surprising that the most popular post on the official Destiny subreddit calls the developer out for making this change. In fact, the thread even calls for players to not spend any money on microtransactions in the game until shaders are made permanent unlocks again.

Activision has yet to issue a statement on the matter, but hopefully they respond quickly. Returning shaders to the way they worked in the first Destiny would be an easy fix and earn the publisher some goodwill from the Destiny community. That being said, it’s a testament to how good Destiny 2 has turned out to be when the biggest complaint players have at the moment is the way armor colors work.